DENVER – Members of the MSU Denver indoor track & field team were on their own for four weeks over the holiday break.
 
But they stayed busy with their own workouts.
 
MSU Denver will compete Friday and Saturday at the University of Colorado's Potts Invitational, with the jumps and throws scheduled for Friday and the running events Saturday.
 
"I'm not nervous at all about getting them back on the track," MSU Denver coach Janis Christopher said. "I had told them before the break that who competed at this meet would be based on practice this week. They all looked really good."
 
Back in mid-December at the season opener hosted by UCCS, sprinter Allyssa Romero, hurdlers Maya Ries and Anthony Martinez, triple jumper PJ Guidry and throwers Grace Solarin and Brandon Simpson had huge impacts.
 
Solarin and Simpson, both freshmen, became among the first throwers in program history in the shot put and weight throw (only in the women's shot put had MSU Denver had an indoor competitor previously).
 
Not only did they (in most cases, obviously) set school records in two events each, they also posted solid throws and qualified for finals.
 
"For them to do that in their first collegiate meet, it wasn't necessarily a huge surprise, but it was a nice surprise," Christopher said. "They are both competitive and they may have been nervous on their first throws, but they got settled in and competed with kids from Colorado State and Colorado. And it's always great to get into the finals and have three extra throws. Hopefully they can do that again."
 
Romero won the 400 meters in 59.07 seconds, which is the sixth-fastest time ever run by a Roadrunner (Romero has four of those times, including the school record of 57.95), and placed third in the 200 in 25.97, making her MSU Denver's third-fastest individual all-time in the event while running the fifth-fastest time among all Roadrunners competitors.
 
"Alyssa was fantastic," Christopher said. "If nothing else we expect her to pick up where she left off and I wouldn't be surprised if Allyssa ran another personal best in the 200 and comes to close in the 400. She's way ahead of where she was last year."
 
Martinez just missed his personal best (by .07 seconds) while finishing third in the men's 60-meter hurdles in 8.25, just .03 seconds off a provisional qualifying time for NCAA Division II Indoor Nationals.

Ries continues to be the top women's 60 hurdles competitor in program history, placing second in 9.13 – her fifth-best time personally which now gives her the best nine times ever at MSU Denver.
 
"I think Maya and Anthony both would tell you they maybe could've technically run a better race," Christopher said. "Sometimes you work on things at practice and as the event comes together, you're in the blocks and the adrenaline starts, you don't execute quite as well. They had good times for their first time out, and we're hoping they can at least match what they did at UCCS but are hopefully a little faster."

Guidry sailed a personal-best 13.84 meters in the triple jump for sixth place. Already the second-best triple jumper in program history, Guidry's mark was the fourth-best ever by any Roadrunner.
 
Scheduled to make his season debut this weekend is men's sprinter Ethan Loper, who is healthy after an injury-plagued 2021-22 in which he still finished sixth in the 200 meters at the RMAC Championships, both indoors and outdoors.
 
"I'm hopeful we'll look as good as our meet before the break, if not better," Christopher said. "We're hoping to pick up where we left off."